


The Aftermath

by JayseHasNoGrace



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:13:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23076835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayseHasNoGrace/pseuds/JayseHasNoGrace
Summary: A oneshot of the FBI team and Jack's reactions to seeing Hannibal's body (and the other things in the house) after the events of 'From Death, With Love' by kanxie.Read that fic first (and give it some love whilst you're there! It deserves all the kudos, bookmarks, & comments), otherwise this one will not make any sense! It's also very short (just over 1k words) so it won't take long, and it's so, SO good! It will hurt, but I promise if you're a Hannibal fan, you'll enjoy it!!!
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexanderavery998](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexanderavery998/gifts).
  * Inspired by [from death, with love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22824163) by [kanxie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanxie/pseuds/kanxie). 



> Platonic loml, fantastic writing buddy, and the one who got me to watch Hannibal (and to read the fic that this is a follow-up to lol) in the first place. It only seems right that I should gift the fic to you, Avery!

**A Final Tableau**

Of all the ways Jack had pictured picking up Hannibal's trail again, this hadn't been it.

He'd been contacted by overseas authorities — not informing him that they'd found another elaborate Ripper murder tableau, as he'd expected — but informing him that they'd found the corpse of Lecter himself.

They had sent meticulous photographs of the body and the house they'd found it in, and were shipping the body and various affects for positive ID and analysis by the FBI.

Jack hadn't wanted to get his hopes up that the body was actually Lecter, but as soon as he'd opened the photos he'd known. Part of him was relieved that Lecter was finally out of this world, but another part of him was bitter. 

Even bloated and decomposing, having been left for at least a week before the body was found, his face had looked peaceful and content, and it was just so _unjust_ that a monster like Lecter got to go out peacefully and on his own terms. What he _deserved_ was rotting away in a cell until the end of his days, or maybe being killed while trying to be taken back into custody. Or maybe he should've died dashed against the rocks and lost to the sea with Will.

Maybe the peaceful expression was just Jack's imagination — that's what he tried to convince himself, at least. Maybe Hannibal _had_ died painfully and against his will. The fact that he was in the middle of his lavish bed in his own home, with no obvious outward signs of trauma didn't really inspire much faith in that narrative though.

Jack sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, before standing up and heading to the morgue. Price and Zeller should be done with the autopsy on Lecter's body, and with any luck they'd also finished analysis on those paintings to figure out who his final victims were.

When they'd unpacked the paintings, Price and Zeller had both spoken at the same time. "Well that's…graphic." "Is that _blood_?"

Jack had just turned away, already uncomfortably familiar with the images that he hadn't been able to get out of his head since he'd first opened the photos the local police had sent him. There was just something so… _not right_ about how intimate the scenes were, how emotional, and the artistry behind them. It just felt wrong, considering that it was comprised of (presumably human) blood, and that it had been created by such a ghastly… _creature_ such as Hannibal.

* * *

"Cause of death?" Jack demanded, upon entering the morgue.

The two crime scene investigators looked up.

"There's a certain poetry to it," Zeller said, and Jack gave him a look. He didn't have the patience for whatever Zeller thought about _how_ Lecter had died, he just wanted the _facts_.

Zeller cleared his throat. "Um. Right, sorry. It was encephalitis."

Jack nodded. Of course it was yet another commonality between Will and Hannibal. It seemed even death couldn't break the odd connection between the two of them.

"Any matches yet on the blood used in the paintings?"

"Yes, actually," Price said excitedly. "And you're not gonna believe this."

Jack moved his hand, as if to say 'Well, get on with it then'.

"They were all painted with his _own_ blood."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You're sure? You tested all of them?"

"Yeah. Crazy, isn't it? We think that's how he got the encephalitis. He had an open wound on his abdomen that had been repeatedly agitated, so I think he was taking the blood from there. It looks like it got infected, and the infection travelled through his bloodstream into his brain," Zeller piped in again.

"And why wouldn't he do anything about it?" Jack questioned. "He has the expertise to realise what was happening. It doesn't fit with his profile at all. Lecter was never one to just accept his fate, why would he do it now?"

Zeller looked back over at the paintings, staring once again at how carefully Will's features had been captured. In the one closest to him, Will was twisted in the sheets in the middle of a large bed, his eyes closed, and his face serene and relaxed.

Jack and Price followed his gaze.

"The flannel shirt he had over his chest…there was a hair on it that tested positive for Will's DNA, and there were plenty of dog hairs on it. Do you think maybe he was just…too depressed once Will died?"

Jack just sighed and left the room.

The whole thing had just been a mess, from beginning to end. Maybe Hannibal _had_ been depressed. Maybe he had just been obsessed and it had consumed him. Or maybe this was all a part of his plan and he was somehow three steps ahead of Jack.

But maybe none of it really mattered anymore. They could speculate, they could make educated guesses, but none of them would ever actually _know_ just what had been going on inside Hannibal Lecter's head, or what had happened the night that he and Will had slain the Red Dragon. They might never know what had happened in the moments leading up to Will's death and Hannibal's disappearance, or if Hannibal had wanted to live instead of succumbing to the infection, or even what all happened between Will and Hannibal.

If ever there was a time to work on letting go though, Jack thought this was it. He could live with not knowing. He could live just accepting that the world was a tiny bit safer of a place now.


End file.
